Tron: Nightfall
by DaniHyrosha
Summary: Tron and Risie are back on the Grid, but it's not the Grid they left. Sequel to Tron:Daybreak. Spoilers for all things Tron, you have been warned.  Closed so I can start the extended edition
1. Return

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tron. I am not a multi-million dollar corporation named Disney.

To anyone not familiar with her, Risie was an artist with a love of video games. She was roommates with Sam, CEO of ENCOM and Sam's girlfriend, Quorra, who was working in medical research. Tron, her best friend, lived with his User, Alan. Tron was the senior manager at Sam's arcade. Risie herself was a junior artist at ENCOM. She drew logos, maps and concept art for some of their newer games. Her latest project was a compilation of games called "The Grid". It was ENCOM's famous games, like Lightcycles and Space Paranoids, that Sam's father had invented and Sam himself had modernized.

What no one knew was that her designs were not original, but based on memories. Only Risie, Sam, Quorra and Tron understood what it meant. After all, Risie and Tron were programs and Quorra was an ISO. They had all come from a computer world that had given the new game compilation its name. There was no way back as far as Risie knew. Sam and Quorra had tried to restore the Grid at first, but as time passed it was evident that they would not be able to restore it to its original state. Between everyone working and trying to live, there wasn't time to work on the Grid much anymore.

Risie was thinking about this as she sat at her desk. Sketches of Lightcycles and Recognizers littered her wall. A makeshift combat disk sat by her colored pencils. She picked it up and pulled her arm back, as if to throw it. She smiled; it still felt like an extension of her arm, just like her ID disk on the Grid. A co-worker walked by and laughed.

"Who are you fighting this time?" he said.

"Just testing the weight," Risie said, "you going home?"

"Don't stay too late," he said as he nodded, "vacation starts tomorrow, doesn't it?"

She smiled and nodded. He left and her smile faded. He thought she was going on vacation out of town. In a way, he was right. Risie had heard Sam and Quorra talking about recent trips to the Grid. While they had assured her that the Grid was far from fixed, they had not told her anyone was able to enter it. Risie was determined to find out if it was ready and if so, get inside.

Risie arrived at Flynn's Arcade later that day. The place was packed with people. She looked up at the office window. Three men were standing there: Sam, Tron and Alan. Risie went up the stairs and joined them, tossing her motorcycle helmet and jacket on the couch. She pulled out a drawing and handed it to Alan.

"Sam," Alan said, "take a look at this."

Sam looked over Alan's shoulder. It was a sketch of Sam and his father, back to back and dressed as they would have been on the Grid. Two other pairs were in the sketch; Tron and Alan, though Alan had never been to the Grid himself, plus Risie and Quorra.

"I thought it would look nice in here," Risie said, "you know, all of us in one picture."

Sam instantly pulled off one of the frames off the wall and handed it to Alan. Alan removed the certificate inside and replaced it with the sketch. Alan handed it to Sam, who clapped Risie on the shoulder, then the two went back to talking about ENCOM as Sam hung it on the wall. Tron pulled Risie outside without saying a word. They sat on the curb in silence. It was Risie who broke it.

"I can hear you thinking," she said.

"Putting my thoughts together," he said, "this isn't an easy thing to say."

Risie folded her hands in her lap and waited.

"The reboot failed," Tron said, "the Grid is in chaos. There are gaps in the code, missing programs. We may never get our Grid back."

"So we're stuck here," she said, "forever."

He nodded. She took a deep breath, then looked at him.

"You give up too easy," she said.

He gave her a sad look. She shook her head and looked at her feet.

"If it was as bad as you say it is," she said, "then you'd be right in the thick of it. Something is keeping you from going inside."

He bit his lip to keep from speaking and she knew he was keeping something from her. Risie got on her motorcycle, forgetting about her helmet upstairs.

"Risie, we can't go back," Tron said, "its over."

She gave him an angry glare.

"Enjoy the Users, Tron," she said, "you deserve each other. I'm going home."

And with that, she was gone. She ignored Tron's yells for her to come back. Risie had no intention of returning, or ever seeing him again if her plan worked.

oOoOoOoOo

Risie arrived at Sam's office at ENCOM by the time her temper tantrum cooled. She knew this was where he kept the Grid interface, hidden behind his wall of photos and sketches. Sam had showed it to her in the early days of fixing the Grid so she would understand why it was taking so long. She took off her long-sleeve shirt, leaving her in a blue tank-top. She tossed it on the chair and looked around. It was a recreation of Flynn's workshop under the arcade. It made Risie smile; like father, like son. She sat at the computer, pulling up what had happened recently. She did not expect to run the last programs Sam had.

Least of all the laser that accessed the Grid, at least this quickly.

She felt the electricity in her body a split second before the room went dark. She went to grab her long-sleeve shirt and found it missing. Chancing disappointment, she reached slowly and put her hand on her back.

Her ID disk was secured between her shoulders. She grabbed it and activated it, holding it in front of her face. The hum and gentle glow were like the sight and sound of a long lost friend. She took stock of herself.

She was still in her jeans and tank top, though both were black now. The only glowing lines were on the sides of her pants and on the front of her shirt. The glow was a pale white. Risie secured her disk and went outside.

The first thing she noticed was that the city was darker than she remembered. The programs on the streets hurried to their destinations, fear in their eyes as they ran. All of the programs wore long coats.

"You, program," a voice said behind her, "identify."

Risie turned slowly. A large security program approached her.

"Identify," he said again.

"Reintegrated Security Independent Evolution," Risie said, "Online TC40."

The program paused, processing who she was.

"Program absent from logs," he said, "detain and transport to Game Grid."

He took a step towards her and she drew her disk.

"This will hurt you a lot more than it will hurt me," she said, "now, what are you talking about?"

"Directive 004," he said, "all programs not logged must be detained and transported to holding cells until cleared."

He grabbed her by the elbow and she had to fight every code in her body to keep from slicing him to pieces. She sighed, securing her disk and following him to the outskirts of the city. She wondered why they didn't use a Lightcycle or a Recognizer. She spoke as they arrived at the Game Grid.

"Why here?" she asked.

"Directive 004.1," he said, "all programs not logged will compete in Disk Wars to assess combat readiness."

He locked her into a holding cell in the Arena marshaling area. He left and Risie was plunged into darkness.

oOoOoOoOo

"That went well," Quorra said, "I told you to let me handle it, Tron!"

"I thought she would handle it better if I told her," Tron said.

Tron, Quorra and Sam rode the elevator to Sam's office at ENCOM and entered his private room without further discussion. Quorra grabbed Risie's over-shirt as Sam started working at the computer. Tron had told them what had happened with Risie and Quorra's first reaction was to check the Grid.

"She's inside alright," Sam said, "Tron, we can't all go in. You'll be on your own."

"I know," Tron said, "believe me, I know."

oOoOoOoOo

Risie shielded her eyes as the lights came on in the cell. The door facing the Arena opened to reveal four Sirens standing around a central platform. One motioned for her to stand on the platform.

"What's going on?" Risie said.

"You don't know?" the Siren asked.

Risie shook her head.

"This is to test your combat abilities," a second Siren said, "should you show any sign of infection, you will be quarantined and disqualified from the Games."

"You will receive two points per round you win," the third said, "one point for a draw. When you lose, your points will be tallied and you will receive your combat ranking score."

"So no derezzing?" Risie asked.

"Should you derezz an opponent, you will be considered infected and quarantined," the fourth said.

"Should you win the round," the second said, "you will be logged as Class A and taken to the city central command center to be considered for security programming."

Risie nodded. The first Siren approached her.

"Do you have an Identity Disk?" the Siren asked.

Risie pulled out her disk. She handed it to the Siren and the Siren set it on the table next to the door leading to the Arena proper. Risie rolled her shoulders and tried to relax.

It didn't take long for the Sirens to dress Risie in combat armor. Risie's core code readily accepted it. Already, her core code was adapting it to fit her style of fighting. The first Siren retrieved Risie's disk and clicked it into place.

"Proceed to Games," the first Siren said.

Risie exited the room and was filled with the roar of the crowd. No matter why she was here, this was home.


	2. Rinzler

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tron: that would be Disney.

Risie's first opponent was also a female program. She was smaller than Risie, but after the opponent dodged Risie's first few disk throws, Risie realized the other program was just as agile as she was. The crowd roared as the opponent, her helmet masking her face, leapt at Risie, intent on crashing her into the ground. Risie smiled. That was her old trick and Tron had shown her how he had beaten her almost every time.

At the last moment, Risie spun out of her opponent's way. She slammed her disk into her opponent's back. As her opponent fell flat on her stomach, Risie put her knee on her opponent's back, using her weight to pin the other. Risie grasped her opponent by the neck and held her opponent's face into the ground. Risie raised her disk above her head.

"I yield," a young voice came from under the helmet.

Risie rose to her feet and offered her hand. Her opponent accepted it as her helmet folded open. Her opponent's snow white hair and clear blue eyes gave her the look of a child. She smiled at Risie.

"No one has dodged in time before," she said, "I'm Mari."

"Risie," a smile lit Risie's face as she spoke.

"I hope to see you here again, Risie," Mari said.

Mari waved to the crowd as she walked away. At the Arena exit, Risie saw a tall, well built program with his arms crossed over his chest. His helmet blocked his face, but his posture told Risie he was angry. Mari approached him with a smile. Risie shook her head, they were not her concern. She turned to face her next opponent.

This tall green-lit program held his disk close to his body. He watched Risie cautiously. Suddenly, he spun on one heel and threw his disk at her. Risie dodged it as he body slammed her into the wall. Her disk fell out of her hand as she grabbed his arms. She swept her left under his knee, causing him to fall, and vaulted over his head. She grabbed her disk and held it to his neck. When he tried to recover, she slammed her disk into his stomach, then his chest, knocking him out.

Two guard programs dragged the unconscious program out of the Arena. Risie rolled her shoulders, thankful that the Arena safety settings did not allow deresolution. He would fight another day. She sighed at the same thought however; these Games were not a challenge. For a moment, her thoughts went to Tron. He played in all the Games she did and though she lost most of them, it was always a challenge.

The next opponent had seen her previous matches. He wasted no time in charging at Risie, causing her to change to a hand-to-hand routine. She dodged him easily, and then clapped her hands over his ears. He fell to his knees and she clasped her hands together, bringing them down on the back of his neck. He was out cold.

As the guards took him away, the atmosphere changed. The crowd was chanting as Risie's final opponent entered the Arena. It was easy enough to guess his name as the crowd chanted it.

Cyrus.

He took up a defensive stance. Risie recognized him as the program waiting for Mari. He threw his disk at Risie a few times to test her agility. She heard him laugh in excitement as he began his attack.

His strikes were relentless and faster than anyone Risie had faced in a long time. He drove her into the wall. He hit her with his disk, causing her to fall to her knees.

_Situation Assessed…Advanced Combat Routines Required…Activating Rinzler Bypass._

A sharp pain erupted in Risie's back. She took a sharp intake of breath, shaking her head.

_Rinzler Bypass Failure…Activating Rinzler Core Code._

Risie yelled as a soft growl began to grow in her chest. Her opponent backed away as Risie stood and split her disks. Her face was blank of all emotion and her eyes glazed over. Deep inside herself, Risie was no longer in control.

Risie threw one disk and charged her opponent. He dodged her first disk and blocked her second with his own. Risie's helmet folded closed. The growl in her chest grew louder as she caught her first disk and swung it low. Her opponent jumped to avoid it and Risie caught him in the chest with her second disk, sending him flying. When he got back to his feet, he was clutching his chest.

"ENOUGH!" a voice yelled.

Risie froze in mid-attack. The voice penetrated her to the core, awakening her primary self.

"Cyrus," the voice said, "you won't win this one. Stand down."

Risie's opponent nodded and secured his disk. His helmet folded back to reveal his features, the same white hair and blue eyes that Mari had.

A firm hand came from behind Risie. Energy spiked in her body, shutting down the Rinzler core code. Her disks fell as she collapsed to her knees, breathing hard. Her helmet opened, showing her dark hair sticking to her face with sweat.

"Mari," the voice said as he removed his hand, "take her home."

Mari came from behind Risie and knelt in front of the exhausted program, putting a headset over Risie's ears. The sound of the crowd fell blissfully silent. Mari picked up Risie's disks as Risie rose to her feet. Risie leaned on Mari without a word and they left the Arena.

Once outside, Mari removed the headset. Risie, feeling drained, boarded a Recognizer that Mari indicated.

"I see you met my brother," Mari said.

Risie looked at her final opponent as he flew the Recognizer into the city core. Once they landed, Mari led Risie to the top floor of the central building. Risie recognized the architecture, but couldn't place where she knew it from. Mari made sure Risie was comfortable on the couch, then spoke quietly to her brother standing against the doorframe. Risie could see the anger in his eyes and knew he did not like losing a match.

The siblings fell silent as another program entered the room. A black hood from his long coat hid his face. He quietly greeted the siblings, taking Risie's disks from Mari. He pulled a chair out to sit across from Risie, whose eyes were on her own hands, folded in her lap.

"Risie?" he said, more of a question than a statement.

Slowly, Risie nodded. It was the voice from the Arena, the one whose simple touch had shut down Rinzler and brought her back.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

She shook her head. He threw back his hood.

"It's me, Risie," she said, "It's Flynn…sort of."

"Flynn is dead," Risie said without looking up.

He took her shoulders, trying to get her to look at him. Finally, she did and her eyes went wide.

It was Flynn, but younger than she knew he should be. He was older than what Clu looked like. His soft eyes told her that this was her Creator.

"How?" Risie stuttered in shock, "When?"

"I'm not the Flynn you knew," he said, "not exactly, anyway. I'm a program now."

"So you did die," she said.

Flynn nodded. "The shockwave. I reintegrated Clu and it caused an overload. When Sam rebooted the Grid, it brought back Clu's body and my soul, so to speak. It's like I'm two people."

Thinking of Rinzler, Risie muttered. "I know that one."

"I still have all the abilities I had as a User," Flynn said, "I can create programs and reorganize code."

"You just can't leave," she said.

He nodded. "Sam's not happy about that."

Risie jolted upright and her eyes narrowed. She started to yell, but Flynn stopped her.

"Before you blame Sam, let me explain," he said, "the reboot did fail on some points and succeeded on others. All of the programs were reset, but the Grid itself was not. The virus Clu infected the Sea of Simulation with gained consciousness. It has the Gridbugs in its thrall. It took form and tried to destroy the system. I called Sam in here to help me build barriers to protect what's left of Tron City. I told him that, until I told him otherwise, he was to keep you, Tron and Quorra out of the Grid."

"Why?" she asked angrily.

"I hurt you three enough," he said, "this isn't your fight anymore. Besides, I wanted to protect you from the virus."

"Flynn," she said, her anger fading to sadness, "we could help. That's what you programmed us to do, isn't it?"

Risie heard Mari whisper at the doorway. "Told you so."

"The first day I came online, Tron took me to the Game Grid," Risie said, "do you remember?"

"It was a good match," Flynn said.

"Before I went into the Arena, he told me something," she said, "I was nervous. He told me 'Live in the moment, and let it all go.' Flynn, let this one go."

Flynn looked at Risie's clear eyes. She was determined to stay, that much he could see.

"Let the past go, Flynn," she said.

"Thank you, Risie," he said.

oOoOoOoOo

Elsewhere in the city, another figure from the User world emerged from the old arcade. Tron knew Risie was here. He looked outside cautiously. He stayed in the shadows as he made his way to his destination. Risie would be in one of two places; her old house or the Game Grid. Since her house, hopefully, still logged who was playing on in the Games, he headed that way first.


	3. Gridbugs

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Tron, though I did get to see it again. Disney owns all things Tron *sigh* I'm broke.

The others let Risie rest for a while. She tried to rest, but found that she could not fall asleep. She lay on the couch with her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. The sound of the door reopening made Risie turn her head. Mari stood in the doorway, her hands folded in front of her.

"What is it, Mari?" Risie asked.

"Flynn told me about you," Mari said, "you knew a lot of ISOs and worked with them and with Basics. You fought Gridbugs and rogue Programs with Tron. You were a hero."

"I was just fulfilling my programming," Risie said, "and I lost all those friends when Clu took power from Flynn. I lost everything to Clu."

Risie closed her eyes, trying hard not to think of her years alone on the Grid. There were some happy times, but she had been afraid to get close to anyone. Most of the time she spent alone in her home, or hidden in the crowds of the Arena.

"What was your directive?" Mari asked.

Risie turned to Mari. The younger program's eyes were filled with wonder and curiosity, but also a hint of fear.

"I was to protect the ISOs, to aid them and become their voice to the Basics until they could speak for themselves. Then I was to continue aiding and protecting them," Risie said, "my other directive was to assist Tron in whatever he needed to protect the Grid."

"And when Clu destroyed the ISOs and Tron, you lost your directive," Mari said.

Risie sadly nodded. Mari sat on the floor beside her, looking into her tired eyes. Mari's mind was filled with hundreds of questions. Risie couldn't help but smile.

"You have some questions, I take it," Risie said, "about the time I wasn't with Flynn."

Mari nodded quickly multiple times.

"What do you want to know?" Risie said.

"Everything!" Mari said with excitement.

Risie closed her eyes again, picturing all the programs she had met, and lost, over the twenty years Clu was in power over the Grid. When she opened them, Risie saw that Mari was sitting perfectly still beside her.

"I was angry," Risie said, "confused. Tron wasn't dead, he was changed and disabled. There was nothing I could do to save him, but there was a part of him I was sure was still Tron. So I watched him. I made it my life's work to make Clu feel the pain I was in. That's all I could think about. Looking back, there are so many things I should have, and could have done differently. And Clu, he wanted to see me suffer too. He took pleasure, I think, in making me fight those I had once called friends. He knew it was kill or be killed and I was better than they were. Most of that part of my lifespan I try to forget. I was obsessed with either killing Clu or getting myself killed. It wasn't pretty."

"You spent a thousand cycles or more without a directive," Mari said, "how did you keep from going crazy?"

"Who says I didn't?" Risie responded.

Mari's eyes went wide.

"It was a program named Azure who saved that part of me," Risie said, "he had been a utility program and was minor enough to be overlooked by Clu's takeover of the system. Most utility programs were. When Clu was defeated, he was the one who asked me to lead the factions on the Grid. He became my right hand and helped me rebuild what I could. He also found Tron's disks at the Sea of Simulation. He kept that secret for me, and many others. He helped me find a directive to fulfill and helped support me once we discovered my code was deteriorating."

"Then what?" Mari asked.

"Then he found Tron," Risie said, "he had a good idea who Tron was, but didn't tell me because he knew that I felt strongly about Tron and would be heart-broken to lose him again. But Azure was right, it was Tron, and once Tron was there, my directive kicked back in."

oOoOoOoOo

Tron arrived at the ruins of Risie's home in silence. The only sound he could hear was the crash of the waves. The area was dark and unkempt, telling him that restoration efforts had not reached this far. He lifted one of the broken wall panels to find an active baton. He clipped it on his leg and looked around. A clicking noise made him turn slowly in the direction of the Arena.

Hundreds of Gridbugs were coming out of the Outlands. Most were heading for the Arena, but some spotted him and changed their target. Tron pulled out and activated his disk as they charged him.

This was going to be a long day.

oOoOoOoOo

The programs continued talking for what felt like at least a millicycle when Cyrus entered the room. He was as stern-faced as he had been when Risie met him. His arms were crossed again. Mari smiled at him and finally, his face softened.

"Seems Mari has taken a liking to you," he said.

"Is this a good thing?" Risie asked.

"Yes," Cyrus said, "she needs a mentor, and while Flynn and I are trying to help with everything else, she spends a lot of time having to learn as she goes."

"She's a lot like me when I first came online," Risie said.

"Thank you!" Mari smiled.

"I'm not here for small talk," Cyrus said abruptly. "There is a Gridbug attack in the sector between the Arena and the Sea of Simulation. Normally we wouldn't worry about it, but they are in more numbers than usual and scans indicate a program is there outside the barriers. The remote scans say that it's not infected, but we can't take that chance, and we can't let them break the barrier around the Arena. It's the only place programs can forget what's going on out here."

"I know," Risie said, "what do you need?"

"Whatever you can do, it has to be better than most of the other security programs," Cyrus said, "can you still fight like you did in the Arena?"

"Let's hope I don't have to," Risie said as she stood.

Cyrus handed Risie a baton and flashed Mari a "stay right here" look. The two ran outside and Mari could hear their Lightcycles racing outside of the city core.

Risie and Cyrus arrived inside the barrier protecting the Arena to see a dozen security programs lined up and ready to fight as soon as the barrier failed. On the other side, Gridbugs, yellow with infection, were hammering the wall. In the back of the small army of Gridbugs, Risie saw pixels flying. Someone was hammering at the Gridbugs just as hard as the Gridbugs were hammering at the barrier. One of the security programs turned to Cyrus.

"Sir," the program said, "The program is fighting the Gridbugs and scans show it's clean. Problem is; it's not logged. I don't know who it is."

"I can wager a guess," Risie said with a growl.

It had to be Sam or Quorra coming after her. She had no intention of going back.

"Doesn't matter," Cyrus said, "we need to get rid of the problem at hand. Have you discovered which one is the leader?"

"The orange one," the program said, "in the center."

Cyrus looked at Risie, who nodded. Without a word, she sprinted outside the barrier and started derezzing Gridbugs. At first they were easy prey, falling by the dozens to her disk. Then the leader saw her and adjusted its forces to combat her. Risie felt a sharp pain in her back. She knew what was coming and tried to fight it. Her helmet folded closed and she knew she had failed.

_Situation Assessed…Advanced Combat Routines Required…Activating Rinzler Bypass._

_Rinzler Bypass Failure…Activating Rinzler Core Code._

"Why did we even program that thing?" was the last thought Risie had before her mind was taken away from her. She split her disk and renewed her attack. She was faster than the Gridbugs had anticipated and she sliced her way to the leader. The leader shoved its claw into Risie's leg, causing her to scream. She slammed her disks into it, derezzing it instantly. She spun on her heel, ignoring the pixels falling from the hole in her leg. She was looking for her next target. She kept fighting the Gridbugs until there were none left. Cyrus was calling to her as he was leading the other programs back into the barrier. She didn't hear him; she just saw the unidentified program staring at her. She took up an attack stance.

"Risie?" the unidentified program asked.

She growled loudly, crouching down slightly lower, pulling back one arm like a spring. The unidentified program secured his disk on his back.

"Risie, can you hear me?" the unidentified program said.

He took a step towards her and she attacked. She saw him as another target, something that existed outside the protected Grid. He dodged her first disk as she threw it and barely avoided the second. She grabbed her disks out of the air without looking at them.

"Risie!" he shouted, "look at me!"

Something in his voice pulled on Risie's basic command code and her helmet folded open. Her eyes held terror as she tried to regain herself. She charged at him and he grabbed both of her disks in his hands, sending a scatter of pixels clattering on the ground as the disks dug into the palms of his hands. He bit his lip against the pain and stared into Risie's eyes.

"Remember," he said quietly.

Risie blinked several times. Her disks disengaged and she collapsed to her knees. Tears came to her eyes.

"Not again," she muttered, "not again."

She looked up at the unidentified program.

"Tron!" she cried out in panic, "what have I done?"


	4. Author's Note

Author's Note:

Sorry about being gone so long. A co-worker of mine broke his wrist, so I took over a bunch of his shifts. Then my gma broke her leg. Both are doing just fine and my co-worker comes back today (yay ^^ we missed him). It's been all broken bones out here I guess.

Anyway, I was going to finish these two stories, but while covering extra shifts and helping around the house while gma's gone, I started writing the extended edition I've been talking about. So I am going to close these and start posting that one soon.

Thanks for all the support and see you soon!

-Dani


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